Collapsible carrier



NOV. 27, 1951 M, E, HQLY COLLAPSIBLE CARRIER 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Filed June l5, 1949 NOV. 27, 1951 M E, HOLY COLLAPSIBLE CARRIER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 13, 1949 Patented Nov. 27, 1951 COLLAPSIBLE CARRIER Mitchel E. Holy, Philadelphia, Pa., asslgnor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application June 13, 1949, Serial No. 98,668

2 Claims. (Cl. 229-28) The present invention relates to carriers for bottles and similar articles and more particularly to a carrier adapted to be formed from foldable sheet material, such as paperboard, and to a blank for such carrier. Essential features of the present invention, as herein disclosed, are the provision of a collapsible carrier having a bottom, sides and ends with a handle member midway between the sides, and with a partition member adapted to be associated with the bottom and centrally disposed handle portion and serving to keep the contained articles separated from each other and at the same time serving as means for maintaining the carrier in set-up condition.

The objects of the present invention are to provide a simple, effective and low cost form of carrier that can be manufactured on high speed folding carton equipment to produce the carrier in collapsed condition by a minimum of steps in the assembly process, the carrier being capable of being brought to expanded condition by a simple hand manipulation and held in such condition by assembling with the carrier a partition element.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent in the following specification and annexed drawings and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the carrier as set up to contain bottles;

Fig. 2 is a view of a preferred form of blank from which the carrier is made;

Fig. 3 is a View of a separate partition element for the carrier;

Fig. 4 illustrates the carrier in a flat, partially assembled condition;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the under side of the carrier with the separate partition member in place; and

Fig. 6 illustrates the carrier in final assembled, collapsed condition ready for shipment to the user.

In general the carrier of the present invention comprises a carrying portion preferably of a double thickness of foldable paperboard provided with a hand hold feature. Connected with the ends of the carrying portion are end portions, preferably hinged to the carrying portion along one side and hingedly connected to side wall portions on their other sides. The side portions are preferably` lower than the carrying portion and at their lower edges they are connected with the edges `oi a bottom panel. For collapslbility of the completed carrier the bottom panel is preferably provided with a central, longitudinally extending crease line. The carrier is preferably formed from a blank of foldable sheet material so that it can be assembled into collapsed form with speed and facility. A preferred method of assembly ofthe carrier is to feed the flat blank through a folding and gluing machine to apply adhesive to certain edges of the blank thereby to secure one pair of end walls to the carrying portion and to secure the edge of the bottom panel to the edge of a side wall.

The carrying portion forms a longitudinal partition element to separate two rows of bottles or other articles, For the purpose of separating the various articles in each row a separate partition element is preferably employed. This partition element in the present instance is inserted up through the bottom panel through suitable openings and engages with the carrying portion preferably by providing cooperating slots or slits in the partition as well as the carrying portion.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the carrier proper is indicated I0 in Fig. 1 and the supplemental partition element is indicated at I I in Fig. 3. While the carrier may be constructed of various materials, it is preferably formed from foldable paperboard that can be handled readily on printing, creasing. cutting and gluing machinery adapted for the manufacture of folding cartons.

The carrier III comprises a bottom I2, sides I3 and I4, a carrying portion indicated as a whole at I5, and end portions I6, I1, I8 and I9.

The carrying portion I5 is preferably formed of two panel portions 20 and 2| integrally and foldably connected along fold line 22. This carrying portion is provided with suitable hand hold means which, in the present instance, is provided by a series of registering finger openings 23, 23 formed in the panels 20 and 2l.

The end members I6 and I1 are illustrated as integrally connected along fold lines 24 and 25 to the carrying portion I5 along their inner edges and along fold lines 26 and 21 to the respective sides I3 and I4.

On the opposite ends of the side walls I3 and I4 the end portions are hingedly connected to these walls along crease lines 28 and 219. These end members I8 and I9 are provided with an attaching strip, in the present instance illustrated as a single narrow portion 30 at the edge of the blank to enable these end members to be secured to the free edge of the carrying portion 3 I8. See Fig. 4. The strip 38 is defined from the end portions I8 and I8 by a fold line 3l which forms the hinge connection between the ends I8 and I9 and the carrying panel I5.

The bottom panel I2 is preferablyjoined integrally with a side wall, herein illustrated as side wall I4 and is defined therefrom by a fold line 32. For the purpose of connecting the bottom with the lower edge of the opposite side wall I3 this wall is provided with an attaching strip 33 hingedly connected thereto along fold line 34.

In order to condition the bottom I2 for ready assembly with the attaching flap 3l the bottom is preferably creased along line 35 which is formed centrally and lengthwise of the bottom.

A preferred method of assembly of the carrier will now be described. After the carrier has been suitably printed, it will be cut andcreased to produce ablank as illustrated in Fig. 2. 'I'he blanks are run through a folding and gluing machine which will apply glue to the area 38 on the panels 20 an'd '2| after which the end portions I8 and ,I 8 will be folded upward and inward along crease lines 28 and 29 so that this portion of the blank will lie nat against the side walls I3 and I4. Concurrently with the step of folding over the panels I8 and I8, the panels 20 and 2| will be folded lover and down so that the glued area 38 will come to rest upon the attaching strip 30.

After the carrier has been brought to the condition .just described it will then be run through an additional folding and gluing operation in which glue will be applied to one of theiexposed surfaces of one of the two panels 20 or 2|.- This is indicated at s1 in Fig. 4. At approximai' the same time a strip of glue will b e applied at 38 along the edge of the bottom panel I2. After the glue has been applied the carrier, as indicated in Fig. 4, will be folded over along crease line 22 which will bring the panels 20 and 2l into face to face relation and will bring. the wall I3 and end .walls I8 and I8 into position closely adjacent their companion parts with the attaching strip 33 brought into position to be engaged by the 'edge of the bottom which has had glue applied thereto. The last operation will be to fold the bottom along crease line 35 to bring the glued area into lapping position with the attaching strip. The carrier will then be in its fully folded or collapsedcondition as illustrated in Fig. 6.

In order to expand the carrier it is only necessary to push inwardly from opposite edges which will cause the end walls to be brought to a position at right angles to the center carrying portion and will cause the bottom panel to be moved up into a position substantially in the plane of the lower edges of the end and side walls.

. The partition element I I is designed to provide separating members between the various articles placed in rows on each side of the central portion. For this purpose the partition is formed with fold lines 40 and 4I to enable the partition to be folded into U-shape with the part 42 between the fold lines and parts 43 and 44 being adapted to be folded at right angles to the part 42. f

The bottom panel is formed with openings preferably in the form of slots 45 and 48 which are at substantially right angles to the crease line 35. These slots terminate short of the lateral edges of the bottom and the partition element is formed of a width substantially the same as the length of the slots. It is to be noted that for cylindrical articles, such as bottles, it is sufllcient to have a f separating element between them which will extend somewhat past the center line which is the line of contact between such articles when placed in a straight row.

The parts 43 and 44 are preferably formed with slots 41 and 48 each of which terminates in slits 48 and 50. By this construction the lower edge of the central portion can be received in the slots when the end portions 43 and 44 are pushed upwardly through the slots 48 and 48.

The central panel portions are preferably also similarly cut away or slotted as indicated at 41 and 48 whereby the slotted parts of the partition element may beinter-meshed with the slots in the central portion.

By the use o'f the partition element II there is provided a means for maintaining the empty carrier in fully expanded condition due to the fact that. with the partition element in place, the bottom member is restrained from lengthwise movement with respect to the central portion. The provision of the slits at the ends of the slots in the parts 43 and 44 tends to cause flrm frictional gripping of :these parts with the central portion and causeslthe central part 42 of the partition to contactilrmly the under side of the bottom. A i

It is to be noted that the partition element II is of such size that in practice it may be cut from the otherwise waste stock on the interior of the carrier blank lying between the'side walls I3 and I4.

If desired, the bottom may be provided at its outer edge with an extended strip. to which glue can be applied to cause adherence of the free edge of the bottom to the sidewall. In such case the side wall would not have an extended strip thereon as illustrated.

While the present description sets forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, certain changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention,` and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not descriptive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1.1A paperboard carrier for bottles and similar articles, comprising a pair of tubular members, each of the members including a side panel, a central longitudinal panel and a pair of end panels hingedly joined to the side panel and the central panel along parallel fold lines, the central panels being integrally joined along their upper edges and disposed in face-to-face relation, a common bottom panel for said tubular members and hinged thereto only along the lower edges of the side panels and having a central longitudinal fold line, whereby the carrier may be erected from flat condition with the side panels against but longitudinally displaced from the central panels to expanded condition with the end panels normal to the side and central panels, thel bottom panel also having a pair of spaced transverse slots extending across and substantially equal distances on either side of the central fold line and the central panels having a pair of registering slots extending upwardly from their bottom edges positioned also to register with the respective slots in the bottom panel when the carrier is in expanded condition, and

a separate partition member having a width sub-- stantially equal to the length of the slots in the bottom panel and comprising a bottom portion having a length substantially equal to the distance between the slots in the bottom panel and a partition portion integrally joined respectively to each of two opposite ends of the bottom portion, -each of the partition portions having a central slot extending inwardly from its free end, the bottom portion underlying the bottom panel andi the partition portions extending upwardly through the slots in the bottom panel with the slots in the partition portions in interengaging relation with the slots in 'the central panels, whereby the carrier is maintained in expanded condition.

2. A paperboard carrier in accordance with claim 1 in which the central panels are adhesively secured to each other.

MITCHEL E. HOLY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,999,664 Reaume Apr. 30, 1935 2,007,438 Agar July 9, 1935 2,069,997 Carr Feb. 9, 1937 2,163,290 Powell June 20, 1939 2,285,399 Arneson June 9, 1942 2,413,315 Darragh Dec. 31, 1946 2,537,615 Arneson Jan. 9, 1951 

